Thread: San Diego farms build loyal tourist following

San Diego farms build loyal tourist following

By Emily Vizzo, Special to the U-T
February 18, 2011 at 6:18 p.m.

Call it the City Mouse, Country Mouse phenomenon. As much as modern Americans savor smart phones, caramel lattes and 3-D blockbusters, there’s still something appealing about apple picking, tractor rides and picking out your own pumpkin.

For a sampling of farms to check out CLICK HERE.

A growing number of San Diego County farmers and ranchers are capitalizing on this hankering for homespun good times by incorporating tourism into their business plans. Profits from agritourism help farmers defray production costs, diversify revenue sources and build relationships with consumers.

Agritourism is defined as a commercial enterprise on a working farm or ranch conducted for visitor enjoyment and education that generates supplemental income for owners, said Penny Leff, agritourism coordinator for the Small Farm Program at the University of California Davis. She said agritourism helps reduce business risk for farmers and is particularly effective for small and midsized operations.

San Diego County contains more small farms than any other U.S. county, according to the county Farm Bureau. It’s home to about 6,000 farmers and 6,565 small family farms and is the country’s top producer of avocados and nursery crops.

Farming contributes $5.1 billion in annual value to the county’s economy, according to the Farm Bureau. It takes the $1.5 billion value of the county’s crops and multiplies by 3.4 to obtain a total economic value for agriculture.

Agritourism is hard to track since it’s mainly a self-identified descriptor. The California Agricultural Department tracks overall farm and ranch production but not specific stats on agritourism, said spokesman Steve Lyle.

“Nobody’s really got that statistic,â€

Photo by Charlie Neuman

Raven Hill Orchard is one of the agritourism operations especially busy during Julian Apple Days.

Agritourism info

UC California Agricultural Tourism Directory: Highlights farms and ranches to visit, and upcoming events. calagtour.org/

County Farm Bureau: (760) 745-3023; sdfarmbureau.org

University of California Cooperative Extension: (858) 694-2845; cesandiego.ucdavis.edu

Certified Farmers Markets: www.sdcounty.ca.gov/awm/farmers_markets.html
Considering agritourism?

Companies hoping to start an agritourism branch are encouraged to think of the tourism element as a new business when they get advice from the Small Farm Program Cooperative Extension at the University of California Davis.

“They’re in the hospitality business; they have to think of it differently, start thinking of themselves as hosts,â€